In spending $65.4 million to win 1.82 million votes, Bruce Rauner spent $35.88 per vote. Pat Quinn spent $30.2 million in 2014 and received 1.68 million votes, spending slightly less than $18 per vote.

Rauner also will have to learn from and work with other Democrats during his gubernatorial term--Democratic legislators and their leaders. Capitol Fax's Rich Miller says that a new poll shows that Illinoisans want Rauner and his new colleagues to work together to govern the state well.

Illinois environmentalists are cheering the spectacular success of the movement to ban fracking in New York. The victory is justifiably spurring reflection on how it was done. What happened in New York that Illinois environmentalists can learn from?

From the outside, COD looks like it's an impossible environment for systemic reform. It appears that Hamilton is just one mom versus a corrupt machine. But, the fresh faced newbie armed with the mandate from the voters is winning the battle at COD.

I'm not sure how this caught fire and spread so quickly on Facebook and Twitter, because the whole point of the eavesdropping law revision was to remove language that made it a felony for any citizen to record a law enforcement officer on duty. It was that portion of the eavesdropping law that made it both unconstitutional and absurdly antiquated.

Please bear with me as I make a long wind-up for a simple pitch. The pitch is: I've always thought Pat Quinn was a pretty decent guy. Honest, sincere, well-meaning and not self-aggrandizing. Lately, though, Quinn has given me reason to wonder.

While the identity of her successor remains a mystery, Illinois continues to remember the life and governmental career of state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. Recollections came in from prominent political figures, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and even President Obama.

Brian T. Murphey, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says these recent events are only the catalyst for conversations based on larger, deeper frustrations over a long period of time.

The Illinois fracking law was negotiated by lobbyists behind closed doors with no southern Illinois environmentalists invited. The rules were finished the same way, but this time even the pro-regulation statehouse green groups were shut outside.

Illinois' new governor elect, Republican Bruce Rauner, has a lot of work ahead of him to fix the state's economy and get Illinoisans on board with state government again. Though voters chose him to lead the state for the next four years, he won't be able to do it alone.

I would have to give the football/election thesis a passing grade, based on these few cases, regardless of whether you use my statewide speculations or the more precise county analysis of my bold political science friends.

In April of this year, Gallup released the results of a national survey in which Illinois was ranked as the state with the highest percentage of residents who believe it is the worst place to live in the United States. Infamy of this sort is not easily earned, but instead accrues over decades.